Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate

          I got Kiehl's midnight recovery concentrate in a sample size from a previous purchase from kiehl. The ingredients and the description was why I chose to get this over other samples. This concentrate is paraben, fragrance and mineral oil free. It's suppose to restore the skin's healthy appearance overnight. I plan to use this concentrate after cleansing my face at night. 

         A few days ago I an out of my argan oil light so I started to this concentrate after cleansing my face. I used the dropper and put two drops of the concentrate on my finger. Then, I patted the concentrate on my face. The texture of it feels like argan oil, but of course the smell is not the same. I continuously used it for 4-5 days and I haven't noticed any difference. My mom lately has been saying that I have a lot of blemishes and I told her that I always have blemishes. After she said that though, I looked at my face in the mirror and did notice a lot of blemishes (more than normal). I wondered why because I haven't done anything different. My mom said that I may have been washing my face too much, but I didn't. So, instead I stopped using the concentrate and see if anything changes. My face didn't break out as much after I stopped using the concentrate. 

          Even though the concentrate has a lot of great benefits, it wasn't for me. I gave this concentrate another shot, but I broke out again. I guess this concentrate is not made for my skin :(   I'm a bit disappointed, but I at least gave it two chances. 

Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque

          I bought this masque a while ago, but didn't have a chance to try it until now (been somewhat lazy). When I opened the jar, the masque has a little bit of plastic smell to it and the color of the masque is grey. At first glance, the masque looks very creamy and smooth, which is exactly what I felt as I began applying the masque on my face. Kiehl's masque doesn't dry up within minutes of application unlikethe clay pore mask that I tried earlier. Also, my face feels really cool after I was done applying. It did tighten a bit, but definitely not as tight as the clay pore mask. I left the mask on my face for about ten minutes. Then, I proceeded to rinse it off with warm water. I think that after using this masque my face feels smoother, but haven't seen any results like smaller pores or something. Again, I only tried it once, so maybe I'll see better results after a few times. Although this masque is a bit expensive, but a little goes a long way. I think that the price of this masque is not too bad if I get free shipping! 

SPF Gel and Moisturizer

    Sunscreen is not something that I enjoy putting on my face because of my oily skin. I feel like sunscreen just makes my skin even oilier. Also, I wear glasses so sunscreen makes it fall down easier.  Every time I know I have to put sunscreen on my face, I totally dread it. After I was done with color guard, I felt so relieved that I don't have to put sunscreen on everyday because I don't have to be out in the sun. I know sunscreen is important for protecting my skin from uv rays, but I just didn't like the texture. 

    Fast forward a year later, I began college and actually started working out. I never like running, but upon entering college I feel the need to excercise and get into shape. For a while and in winter, I would use the treadmill and elliptical since it's convenient. However, I decided to run outside when spring came along. I know that uv rays are to strongest between 12-3 pm so I would wake up early to do morning runs. 

   Unfortunately, I noticed that my face got way darker and my skin started to have some dark dry spots two or three weeks later. Then, I realized that it must have been the uv rays :( I didn't know what to do, but to ask my mom to send me some lotion or something. I opened the package that she sent me and it was a moisturizer or lotion with SPF 30. Immediately, I started to put some of the moisturizer/lotion every morning before going to class and running. I think maybe in a week or so, I saw my skin improving (no more dry spots). From then on, I would use the SPF moisturizer/lotion everyday. However, I'm still not satisfied just because the moisturizer/lotion still makes my face feel oily, but I continued to use it since I didn't have any other options. 

Things changed when I went to Korea for a few weeks. I know that Korea has many beauty stores so I decide to look around to see if there's any SPF gels or something that won't make my skin feel oily. Finally, I found what I was looking for in a Missha store. I think I was at a subway station and went inside Missha with a friend. There I saw an ice sun gel with SPF 27 that wasn't too expensive so I bought it. I tried it on the next day and my life changed because the gel doesn't leave my skin oily at all and dries fast. 

   As I got older my skin does feel quite dry in the winter so I switched it up and use back SPF moisturizer. I made up my mind to use gel in spring/summer and maybe autumn and moisturizer in winter. I really liked the Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer with SPF 40 because it smells very pleasant, but I ran out of it so I started using Kiehl's facial moisturizer SPF 30 these past few weeks. The smell is definitely not as good as Josie Maran's, but as long as it works I'm fine with that. I got Kiehl's facial moisturizer as a sample. In the end, I learned my lesson: it's important to protect your skin!

Here's my SPF gel from Korea: